Recently in RSS Aggregators Category

There's no shortage of news content on the web. But finding just the news you want isn’t always easy. As a practical matter, it's close to impossible to create a search that finds only the pearls and not the junk. That's why many libraries are offering news monitoring and filtering services for those times when human intervention is required.

RSS readers/aggregators are great tools for collecting content from disparate sources together into a central workspace where you can review a large volume of news relatively quickly. Free content from the web and search feeds from premium services such as LexisNexis, Llesiant and Factiva can co-exist side by side in your reader.

You can choose to view your feeds in Outlook (Newsgator Inbox), on the web (Google Reader, Bloglines, Newsgator Online) or in a separate application (FeedDemon, RSS Bandit). Some readers offer ways to customize your reading experience by letting you choose the colors, skins and layouts that you prefer.

That’s all well and good, but if you’re monitoring topics for others, how do you take the news from your reader, and deliver your finely filtered results the people who need it?

Certainly, many desktop RSS readers, such as FeedDemon, have “clippings” folders into which you can drag, drop and store the stories you find. Newsgator Online, FeedDemon’s online cousin will allow you to create an custom RSS feed for the contents of such folders. It's also easy to create your very own RSS feed with Bloglines and Google Reader. But these are public feeds, and besides, how many of your attorneys regularly read RSS feeds? I'm thinking not very many.

The feature that I find lacking in the readers I've looked at is the ability to export selected articles to an attractive and customizable report format that can be cut and pasted into an email.

The closest I’ve found so far is a reader called Awasu. As you review your feeds, you can move any feed items you want to save to a “workpad." You can set up as many workpads as you want, and create reports from these workpads. That's a start. But the report formats (templates) provided are fairly basic. While you can customize them, it's not quite as straightforward a process as I'd like.

My most recent experiment involved Newsgator Inbox and Onenote 2007, installed on my home computer. With the "Send to OneNote" feature, I can review RSS items in Outlook (Newsgator), right click on an item, click "Send to OneNote", and the entry is nicely copied to the OneNote Sidenotes tab:

I like the format. But each entry is saved on a separate page. You can easily email individual items, but consolidating them into one list would be cumbersome.

RSS Bandit has a Send to OneNote plugin that works in a similar way. I don't like the format quite as much as the "Send to OneNote" feature above, though.

Do you monitor/filter news for people in your organization using RSS? What tools work for you?

I had good intentions. I had planned to blog regularly while at AALL in St. Louis. But things just got too busy, as they tend to do at such events. Besides, you really wouldn't want to read anything I might have written after a long day at the exhibit hall. Still, I have a few of what I think are items of significance to discuss. Better late, than not at all!

Newsgator was is the exhibit hall this year, and that’s where I headed first. I had a strategy. I knew I wanted a thorough demo, so I skipped the first program under the correct assumption that the exhibit hall wouldn’t be busy. It’s a good thing, too. Things were relatively quiet, and I spend a good hour looking at Newsgator’s enterprise product.

Newsgator’s RSS reader has been around for a while. It integrates nicely with Outlook, adding folders for RSS feeds in the Outlook folder structure, and is a popular software choice. But I have bigger fish to fry. My fantasy is to make Newsgator the delivery method of choice for all of the firm’s electronic current awareness newsletters, alerts, internal information and outside third-party content. It looks like it might be up to the task. Email alerts could become a thing of the past; forget managing Outlook subscriptions lists. With Newsgator, attorneys could easily subscribe and unsubscribe to the RSS feeds of choice. Newsgator offers an administrative interface to handle your RSS offerings. Feeds can be pushed to a particular group or user, and selected ones can be made mandatory. You can even create topic folders that will combine more than one RSS feed into a single, readable display.

So, for example, if you have an alert running on the name of your firm or organization, you can include a Lexis Publisher feed for general news, and Westlaw Watch for legal news, and offer both RSS feeds in a single folder, so that they can be reviewed separately, or together. And all of this would happen within Outlook, in a folder that looks just like another email folder. Feeds can also be optimized for viewing on handheld devices, such as Blackberries.

If you’d like to provide more focused news, you can choose to set up special keyword searches to run across all your available RSS feeds, collecting that information in to a custom topical feed. For example, you could create a special search on Sarbanes Oxley, to collect news headlines from your available RSS feeds, and presents them as one specialized feed. You can also easily create your own RSS feeds with Newsgator.

There’s a chicken and egg problem, of course. While there’s a lot of information available via RSS, certainly not everything is there yet, so the transition to all RSS alerting can’t happen all at once. On the other hand, Newsgator offers a function that allows you to receive an email and include that email in a Newsgator folder. (This is good for listserv email as well.) But still, any non-RSS email alerts wouldn’t be optimized for RSS, and wouldn’t be as easily scanned by the user. The other problem is that Newsgator can only handle straight text emails, and won’t render html email. That may be remedied in the near future.

It’s one thing to talk about the future, but the burning question, at least in my mind, is what exactly is available in RSS now? Ah, that’s the subject of my next blog.

A video tutorial doesn't have to be professionally done to be useful even though the average person may not have the polish of of someone that does voiceovers for a living. That said, if you'd like to get an overview of the Google RSS reader, take a look at this tutorial by "Jason." It's about 10 minutes long, and gives you a good overview of the Google offering.

One feature I didn't know about before watching the video is the ability to create code using Google Reader that allows you to drop an RSS feed into a web page. Very quick and easy, and very cool!

RSS isn't email. And many people, including me, like it that way. I prefer collecting all my list email and RSS feeds in my Bloglines account where the stuff doesn't clutter up my inbox. Of course, there are RSS readers such as Newsgator, Attensa For Outlook, and soon, Microsoft Outlook 12, that will display RSS feeds within Outlook, which can certainly be a convenient alternative.

But if you don't monitor many RSS feeds, it may not be worth it to install an additional application and if you're using a web-based aggregator such as Bloglines for just a few feeds, you can easily forget to read them altogether. That's why it's good to know about some of the available services that convert RSS to email, notifying you whenever there's new headlines for you to puruse.

Librarian in Black notes that Feedburner is now offering an RSS to email feed option to publishers. However, this service is only available to recpients if the blog publisher offers it.

Bloglet, used by LawLibTech.com, is another tool available to bloggers and webmasters to enable email subscriptions to RSS feeds. Enhancements or changes to this service haven't been made in years, though it continues to function...some of the time. From a publisher's standpoint, the inability to easily download a list of all subscribers is a definite drawback to this service. If you register with Bloglet, you can subscribe to any RSS feed, regardless of whether the blog/site offers a Bloglet subscribe option.

R|Mail is another option for RSS to email delivery, and requires nothing more than an email address and the URL of the feed you wish to subscribe to. Registration is not necessary. In my experience, R|mail has been considerably more stable than Bloglet.

Other similar products include:

Feedblitz - Will import subscription lists from Bloglet. Hmm, I'm tempted....

Squeet - Incudes a keyword search option, notifying you of new content from Google News.

Zookoda.com/ - Allows publishers/bloggers to create customized newsletters for content delivery.

Blogarithm.com - Notifies you of new content on any web page, including blogs, via a once a day email with links to updated pages.

BotABlog - Very similar to Blogarithm.

So just because you don't want to be bothered with a RSS reader doesn't mean you can't keep your eye on your favorite blog!

It's common knowledge that the upcoming release of Internet Explorer 7.0 will support RSS, but what about Outlook? RSS is a "push" technology, as is email, and I'd rather read my feeds in my email app rather than my browser. RSS is also about up to the minute updating, and after all, Outlook is the first app I open in the morning, and the last one I close down at night.

I'm convinced that once Outlook is RSS-aware, RSS will finally really take off, especially in enterprise environments. Well, get ready, because according to Office Watch 10.06, Outlook 12 will include support for both RSS and podcasting!

I know that Newsgator integrates to Outlook AND is offering an enterprise product, but my guess is that most people/organizations would prefer NOT to purchase an additional product if they can help it, so I believe the need for a separate application is greatly slowing down the adoption of RSS in the average or even not so average law firm. Let's hope Microsoft gets it right.

Outlook 12 isn't that far off - it's estimated release is sometime in the second half of 2006 - so be prepared. Though recent statistics have shown that only a small percentage of Internet users regularly use RSS, once it's integrated into Outlook, that number will likely explode. Position yourself to provide internal information, news and updated search results via RSS. You will need to be the RSS expert if you want to deliver current information to your organization.

Okay, it turned out there really IS something wrong with my computer. You may recall when we last talked, I was having problems importing my Bloglines subscriptions into the new Google Reader. But I tried it at work, and lo and behold, the export/import worked quite smoothly. I think that's proof that I really DO need a new computer for Christmas!

So I now have all my required reading in the Google Reader. My initial reaction to the product is that it will be well-liked by those that monitor a relatively small number of feeds. Bloglines need not be overly concerned at this juncture.

On the bright side, it's quick and easy to figure out. Once you've subscribed to your favorite RSS feeds, the default view shows you the headlines in order by relevance. (By date is the other sort option.) I can't help but wonder....how do they determine relevance? Think about it, I didn't run a search at this point....so how does it know? It's a mystery to me, but I have to admit, the items listed at the top were quite interesting, so they must be doing something right.

This is not, however, the way I'm used to reading my feeds. In Bloglines, I can see which feeds have unread items, and how many. I can then choose which feed I'd like to read. I've become rather fond of this method. If I'm in a hurry, there are some feeds I'll skip. Others, that are must-reads for me, I go to right away. With the Google Reader, I don't have that kind of view as an option. The list of subscriptions doesn't indicate how many unread items are waiting for me.

But the Reader does follow Google's tendency to keep things simple and clean. And the relevancy ranking intrigues me. I may log on every once in a while to see the Google Reader displays items of interest that I've missed. If you just want an easy way to read a short list of feeds, Google Reader might suit you just fine.

I'm a big fan of web-based RSS readers; I've been using Bloglines for some time now. So I sat up and took notice when I saw the announcement that Google was now offering an web-based RSS reader. It's from Google, I'm a Google-holic, it seemed like a match made in heaven.

Just an FYI, you need a Gmail account in order to use the Google Reader. That shouldn't be a barrier, since Gmail accounts are now available to everyone. Just select "Get and Account Now" from the Reader page. Since I already have a Gmail account, I went straight to the Google Reader and tried to import my recently exported Bloglines OPML file.

Except it didn't work. Who knows, maybe it's a Bloglines problem, maybe not. But I have to ask, am I the only one having problems with getting Google products to work lately? (Aside from the basic Google search, of course. Luckily THAT'S not causing me any trouble.) Gmail started the trend by rejecting my emails, making it less than useful as an email program. Then I upgraded my Google Desktop Search, which promptly quit working. I uninstalled and re-installed. No dice, so I downloaded Yahoo Desktop Search instead. After all, a girl's gotta be able to search her hard drive. Now Google Reader doesn't want to import my feeds.

I'm trying not to take it personally...heck, Google and I go way back. Maybe I need a new computer...yes, that's the ticket! It can't be Google's fault...it must be me. What a great excuse...I mean reason...to get a whole new system. Would that appease the Google Gods?

It seems like only yesterday that Adobe Acrobat 6.0 was released. In fact, it was shipped mid-2003. My, my, software ages quickly these days! Adobe announced last week that version 7.0 will be released by the end of the year. Both PlanetPDF and PDFZone have already reviewed the new functionality offered by 7.0.

Interesting...you'll be able to use Acrobat 7.0 to subscribe to RSS feeds using the "Tracker" tool. This I've got to see! But unfortunately the only mention I could find of this particular feature was in the first part of the Planet PDF Product Tour. It goes without saying that it will be a simple matter to convert those RSS feeds to PDF. It's unclear whether both Standard and Professional will include the Tracker tool.

Bloglines, my favorite web-based news aggregator, has done a major remodel, resulting in a more attractive and more functional interface. There are several new features that I'm just starting to explore. I'd say the most important one is the ability for subscribers to create a quick and easy "blog."

Here's a sample Bloglines blog that I'm trying out to "clip" the many good news items out there that I don't have the time or inclination to comment on in LawLibTech. While I could easily do this in Movable Type, the software I use for LawLibTech, having this feature incorporated into the tool I use for reading RSS feeds makes it even easier to handle. Let me know if you think this is useful.

If you're still looking for the perfect RSS reader, or just want to get started using RSS, take a look at the PC World article, News on Demand. Editor's Pick is the feature-rich reader called FeedDemon.

But don't just go for the easy choice. You'll want to review the article carefully as each reader reviewed has it's advantages. If you want your RSS feeds delivered to Outlook, Newsgator may be the one for you. To access RSS feeds from different computers and different locations, you'll like my choice, Bloglines, which ran a close second to FeedDemon for Editor's Pick. Pluck RSS Reader displays feeds in Internet Explorer, another interesting option.

What's YOUR favorite RSS reader?

The race is to provide a way for email users (and isn't that just about everybody?) to efficiently and effectively search their email. Outlook doesn't do it well, though there are improvements in the 2003 version; so third-parties are having a go at it, including Google who is beta-testing an web-based email product with Google search functionality, Gmail.

Another email search company, X1, is partnering with Newsgator to provide search access to Outlook email AND Newsgator RSS files. This news item, NewsGator, X1 Push RSS-Search Connection, is very interesting in more ways than one.

Email is in a precarious state. The mainstream press is questioning whether email can survive. Now mailing lists are in jeopardy. Are we doomed to return to the days of snail mail, phone calls and answering machines?

I can't solve all your email problems, but here's one solution to the tyranny of mailing list email, Bloglines email subscriptions. With the recent release of the new Bloglines display feature, Bloglines has become an obvious choice for managing your mailing list email in addition to your RSS feeds.

On Tuesday I wrote, "My only complaint with the Bloglines display is that you have to page through all headlines complete with summaries." On Thursday Bloglines announced a new display feature that gives you the option to view expandable headlines for your subscriptions instead of the full entries. Yippee!! This makes reviewing items very quick and easy. Let me show you how this new option looks, and how to change it on your Bloglines account.

While it's true that there are other web-based RSS aggregators out there such as MyFeedster, DailyWhirl, Newsgator, even MyYahoo, none hold a candle to Bloglines. I've recently switched from my desktop aggregator, Newzcrawler, to Bloglines and haven't looked back. Now I can access my feeds from any computer. Bloglines also offers some unique features that I think you'll like. More on that later. Let's start with the basics.

Last week I discussed "What is RSS?". Now that you know what RSS is and what it can do, let's talk RSS aggregators, those wonderful things that make sense of RSS files.